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A Secret Girlfriend, a Shaky Alibi — All the Evidence in the Scott Peterson Case
Prosecutors have said they had "overwhelming" evidence pointing to Scott Peterson's guilt after his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, and unborn son, Conner, were found dead.
It’s been more than two decades since authorities say Scott Peterson killed his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn child.
The former fertilizer salesman was convicted in 2004 of two counts of murder and is serving out a life sentence at a California prison for the brutal crime. But the sensational case garnered new attention in January when the Los Angeles Innocence Project announced it was taking on his controversial case.
It's argued, according to KTXL, that DNA evidence and a suspicious burglary in the neighborhood around the time when Laci disappeared on Christmas Eve 2002 could clear Scott of the cold-blooded murders. In May, a judge ruled that a piece of duct tape found stuck to Laci’s leg should undergo a new round of DNA testing.
But, despite the defense’s claims, prosecutors are convinced they have the right man behind bars and have argued in court filings that there is “overwhelming” evidence pointing to his guilt, according to Fox News.
So, just what evidence led to Scott’s initial conviction? Here’s a recap of everything that helped put Scott behind bars:
What was Scott Peterson’s alibi?
Scott told authorities that on the morning of Dec. 24, 2002, he left his house around 9:30 a.m. to go fishing in the San Francisco Bay, according to The Associated Press. He said Laci was preparing to take their dog for a walk. When he returned home later that afternoon, he told authorities that he discovered the dog in the backyard with its leash still on, but found no sign of Laci.
Scott’s timeline would come into question during the trial, however, when Steven Jacobson, an investigator with the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office, testified that Scott appeared to be at his Modesto home later than he claimed. At 10:08 a.m., Scott used his cell phone to check his voicemail. The call bounced off a tower near his house, suggesting that Scott had still been at home at the time. Ten minutes later, a neighbor reported finding the couple’s dog wandering through the neighborhood on its own.
Scott Peterson’s Secret Boat
Weeks before Laci disappeared, Scott began researching fishing boats — despite never having held a fishing license since 1994, according to Vox. He purchased a small fishing boat on Dec. 9, securing a fishing license valid for only two days just before Laci disappeared.
Witnesses testified at trial that Scott told them he planned to go golfing on Christmas Eve and never mentioned anything about fishing that day. Laci’s family and Scott’s own father testified they never knew he had even purchased a boat, according to The Modesto Bee. Authorities also don’t believe that Laci knew about the purchase.
When an officer asked Scott what kind of fish he had been fishing for that day, Detective Jon Evers testified in court that Scott “couldn’t say.”
"At that point, the defendant paused and had a blank look on his face for a second or so, his eyes shifted a little bit and hesitated in answering him, before he mumbled something, but did not give the officer an answer," prosecutors wrote in court documents obtained by Fox News outlining the evidence against him.
Authorities said Scott then walked out his door, threw a flashlight on the ground and exclaimed, “F--k.”
The significance of Scott’s fishing trip became a critical aspect of the case after Laci’s body and the body of their unborn son, who the couple planned to name Conner, washed up along the shores of the San Francisco Bay in April 2003, not far from where Scott told authorities he had been out fishing.
Authorities also believe they discovered evidence that Scott had made five cement anchors inside a warehouse where he stored the boat. They were only able to recover one anchor, according to PEOPLE, suggesting he may have used the other anchors to weigh down Laci’s body.
Investigators also discovered a pair of needle-nosed pliers on the boat that had a piece of Laci’s hair caught inside its teeth, Fox News reported. A specially trained police K-9 also picked up her scent at the boat ramp that Scott told detectives he used that day.
Details of Scott Peterson’s Affair
Another major bombshell in the investigation was the discovery that Scott had been having an affair at the time of Laci’s disappearance. Scott had been dating massage therapist Amber Frey — who believed he was single — since late November 2002, according to Dateline: Secrets Uncovered.
Frey would later tell investigators that an emotional Scott called her at the beginning of December, weeks before Laci vanished, and told her his wife had died earlier that year and he’d be spending the holiday alone for the first time.
When she discovered the truth, Frey agreed to secretly record their phone calls for police. In one memorable instance, Scott called her in the middle of a vigil for his wife and pretended he was calling her from the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
“The crowd is huge,” he told her to cover the background noise of the mourners.
He was also captured at the same event smiling in photographs.
Scott Peterson’s Mounting Financial Troubles
At trial, prosecutors would paint the picture of a man struggling under intense financial pressure. At the time of Laci’s disappearance, the couple had credit card bills totaling $23,000 and Scott was struggling to make money in his fertilizer business, according to the SF Gate.
His defense attorneys, however, argued that Scott always made his payments on time and noted that Laci stood to collect a $140,000 inheritance in 2005.
Did Scott Peterson attempt to flee to Mexico?
Scott’s actions after the bodies of his wife and unborn son were discovered only added to the mounting suspicion against him. Just days after the bodies were retrieved from the water, Scott was taken into custody after an hours-long pursuit near the Mexico border.
When he was apprehended, Scott, who had dyed his hair blonde, had camping gear, four cell phones, his sister’s credit card, his brother’s driver’s license, and more than $10,000 in cash in his possession.
Scott Peterson was found guilty of first-and second-degree murder in November 2004.
While Scott Peterson’s attorneys have suggested Laci may have encountered a burglary in progress across the street from her home, which led to her disappearance, prosecutors have insisted the break-in happened at least two days after she disappeared, according to Fox News.
Learn more about the case in the new three-part Peacock docuseries, Face to Face with Scott Peterson, premiering August 20. The series will also air on Oxygen on Monday, November 25 at 8/7c.
